


Preface, This Land We Have Chosen

by redscudery



Series: The Backwoods of Canada [1]
Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canada, Alternate Universe - Victorian, Gen, Johnlock - Freeform, M/M, introduction, preface
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-11-05 03:48:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11005353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redscudery/pseuds/redscudery
Summary: Preface to my Sherlock Sunday Summer Serial novel, This Land We Have Chosen, which begins posting on Sunday, June 18.





	Preface, This Land We Have Chosen

Dear Reader,

I am so excited to start publishing this fic for the fourth iteration of the Sherlock Sunday Summer Serial. _This Land We Have Chosen_ began life as a one-shot nearly three years ago: someone said "What if John treated Sherlock for hysteria?" and I thought "BUT OF COURSE." I wrote about 2000 words immediately and stopped short, not because I didn't love the idea but because what I know about the nineteenth century was getting in my way.

If you know anything about sexual pathology in the late 19th century, you know two things: one, that hysteria treatment was for women, and two, that while women were being treated for hysteria, there was a great panic about several aspects of male sexuality. Ejaculation was considered to be draining to the male life force and energy, and masturbation was seen as a genuine danger to men's health and happiness (see: Boy Scouts of America, the establishment of).  This, however, wasn't going to stop me: all I had to do was figure out where in the world John could be a doctor but not know enough about hysteria treatment to refuse to do it to a man. 

It was easy to figure that out where that was going to be because a) I grew up in the backwoods of Canada, b) I live in (a different part of) the backwoods of Canada, and c) I wrote my doctoral dissertation about the literature of the backwoods of Canada.  So to the backwoods John went, after a stint in India, rather than Afghanistan, for reasons that will become clear towards the end of the fic.  

This fic isn't based exclusively on one book like my prior summer serial fics; it is indebted to several books about early Canada, most notably Susanna Moodie's _Roughing It in the Bush,_ written in 1852. One of the funniest scenes comes from that book, as does Sherlock's bread-baking obsession. However, what this really is is a pioneer romance novel with a little medical kink thrown in. Also, dildos. As such, this fic contains a portrait of Sherlock as very, very out of touch with his sexual self. He definitely is on the edge of "romance-novel virgin". You know the kind: "she trembled with unfamiliar feelings. What was this heat in her loins?" I tried to balance it out by making him very competent in other ways, but I hope it works. 

Because this is an AU, it doesn't really follow canon, but there are elements from every season, including S4. I won't elaborate because spoilers, but look out for the redemption of a criminally mistreated character. As it were. 

This fic is not fully complete, but it's nearly complete: I have 12 chapters written, beta'd, and ready to post, and the four incomplete chapters are plotted completely and drafted in spots. The first chapter goes up on Sunday!

I hope you have as much fun reading this fic as I did writing it. Enjoy!

 

Red

P.S. the goats in this fic are renditions of goats that I have smelled and/or chased in the past, but I have never been dumb enough to try and put a goose in a sack. And yes, beaver grease smells a little like raspberries.


End file.
